Heat treating apparatus for powder particles and method of producing toner

• US 9,372,420 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2012
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Takenaka, Kohji, Mizo, Yuichi, Minagawa, Hironori, Kobori, Takakuni, Ohtsu, Takeshi, Hagiwara, Junichi, Ito, Daisuke, Kawakita, Kunihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Dote, Janis L
• Application Number:
  US14/123,960
• Publication Number:
  US 20140120468A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,471 Days
• Field of Search: 430/137.1, 430/137.18, 430/137.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F26B 17/103 with specific material feeding arrangements, e.g. combined with disintegrating means
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 9/0802 Preparation methods
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 9/0804 whereby the components are brought together in a liquid dispersing medium
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 9/0806 whereby chemical synthesis of at least one of the toner components takes place
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 9/0808 by dry mixing the toner components in solid or softened state
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 9/081 by mixing the toner components in a liquefied state; melt kneading; reactive mixing
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 9/0815 Post-treatment

Abstract

A heat treating apparatus for powder particles containing a binder resin and a colorant, the heat treating apparatus including: a treating chamber in which a heat treatment of the powder particles is performed; a raw material-supplying unit for supplying the powder particles to the treating chamber; a hot air-supplying unit that supplies hot air to the treating chamber; a cold air-supplying unit that supplies cold air for cooling the heat-treated powder particles; and a recovering unit that recovers the heat-treated powder particles. The raw material-supplying unit includes an introducing tube and a distributing member, and the distributing member is provided with a protruding member on a portion opposite to an outlet portion of the introducing tube, and the distributing member includes a supplying tube including two or more flow paths that extend radially outwardly from the protruding member to a wall surface of the treating chamber.

Claims

1. A heat treating apparatus for powder particles each of which contains a binder resin and a colorant, the heat treating apparatus comprising:

(1) a treating chamber in which a heat treatment of the powder particles is performed,

(2) a raw material-supplying unit for supplying the powder particles to the treating chamber,

(3) a hot air-supplying unit that supplies hot air for heat-treating the powder particles to the treating chamber,

(4) a cold air-supplying unit that supplies cold air for cooling the heat-treated powder particles, and

(5) a recovering unit that recovers the heat-treated powder particles, wherein

the raw material-supplying unit comprises an introducing tube and a distributing member provided opposite to an outlet portion of the introducing tube,

the distributing member is provided with a protruding member on a portion opposite to the outlet portion of the introducing tube,

the distributing member comprises a supplying tube having two or more flow paths, the flow paths guiding a raw material in a direction from the protruding member toward a wall surface of the treating chamber,

the supplying tube comprises a compressed air-injecting port or an external air-sucking port, and

the compressed air-injecting port or the external air-sucking port is equipped with a flow rate adjustment mechaniam.

2. The heat treating apparatus for powder particles according to claim 1, wherein the supplying tube comprises four or more flow paths and the flow paths extend radially outwardly from the protruding member toward a wall surface of the treating chamber.

3. The heat treating apparatus for powder particles according to claim 1, wherein the raw material-supplying unit is equipped with a dispersion air-supplying member for dispersing toner particles to an upper portion of the introducing tube.

4. The heat treating apparatus for powder particles according to claim 1, which is equipped with a diffusing member inside of the introducing tube.

5. A method of producing a toner that obtains a toner through a step of heat-treating powder particles containing a binder resin and a colorant, wherein a heat treating apparatus according to claim 1 is used in the heat-treating step.